Conductive surgical shoe cover



Jan. 3, 1967 B. A. CERIALDI 3,296,489

CONDUCTIVE SURGICAL SHOE COVER Filed June 5, 1965 INVENTOR.

BERNARD A. CERALDI ATTQRNYS United States Patent M 3,296,489 CONDUCTIVESURGICAL SHOE CQVER Bernard A. Ceraldi, Cleveland, Ghio, assignor toWestshore Products, Inc., Cleveland Ohio, a corporation of Ohio FiledJune 3, 1963, Ser. No. 285,023 2 Claims. (Cl. 3172) The presentinvention relates as indicated to a surgical shoe cover, havingparticularly advantageous use in operating rooms or similar environmentsin hospitals and the like. In such hospital operating rooms there areoften employed anesthetics which are highly explosive, cyclopropanebeing one example, and it is therefore necessary to practice the utmostcaution during operations using such anesthetics to prevent staticelectrical discharges or sparks which might explosively ignite theanesthetics with disastrous results.

In order to avoid, to the extent possible, all controllable hazards,surgeons and attendants are usually required to wear conductive footgearof some type in order to prevent sparking during their presence in theoperating room. Such conductive footgear commonly takes the form of shoecovers which can be slipped over the shoes of those persons in theoperating room, such shoe covers having conductive soles and conductivestraps connected thereto, the latter for tucking inside the socks of theperson wearing the same to directly contact the skin.

The conductive shoe covers presently in use are relatively expensive,thereby making it an economic necessity that the same be reused, andaccordingly a further considerable expense in both time and money isinvolved in cleaning and sterilizing such shoe covers before furtheruse. The shoe covers, because of the conductive sole material, arerelatively difficult to launder and such laun dering causes the soles todeteriorate, as well as frequently tearing or severing the conductivestraps from the conductive soles. Yet another disadvantage of presentlymanufactured conductive shoe covers is that they must be provided in anumber of different sizes in order to fit the varying shoe sizes of thepersons using the same, so that a rather extensive inventory isrequired, thereby further adding to the expense of using the same.

With the above in mind, it is a primary object of the present inventionto provide a highly simplified surgical shoe cover which can bemanufactured for but a fraction of the cost of manufacturing suchpresently known shoe covers, such greatly reduced cost enabling the shoecovers to be disposed of subsequent to use and thereby eliminating thefurther cost of laundering and sterilizing incurred in the use ofpresently existing types.

A further object of the present invention is to provide such adisposable surgical shoe cover which is highly expansible for slippingover any size shoe thereby eliminating the necessity of maintaining alarge inventory of dif ferent size shoe covers.

Still another object is to provide such a disposable surgical shoe coverhaving a strip of conductive material the free end of which can beeasily grasped and tucked inside the sock of the wearer against the skinto render such wearer conductive.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome more apparent as the following description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention,then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims, the following description andthe annexed drawing setting forth in detail certain illustrativeembodiments of the invention, these being indicative, however, of butcertain of the various ways in which the principle of the invention maybe employed.

3,296,489 Patented Jan. 3, 1967 In said annexed drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of the surgical shoe cover of thepresent invention when not in use;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the surgical shoe cover of FIG. 1,showing the same slipped over the shoe of the wearer;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the surgical shoe cover when the same is inuse as illustrated in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 1, showing themanner in which the conductive strip is secured to the body of the shoecover.

Referring now more specifically to the drawing, where in like parts aredesignated by like reference characters, the surgical shoe cover of thepresent invention is generally indicated at 10 and includes an elasticexpansible tubular bory portion 11 and a conductive strip portion 12which is sewed to the body portion 11 by thread 13, as shown in FIG. 4.The shoe cover in its marketed OI non-use condition is flat whereby agreat number of such covers can be stored in a minimum of space.

The body portion 11 of the shoe cover is constructed in much the samemanner as a sock with one end being reduced in size and closed toprovide a closed end within which the toe of the shoe can be positionedduring use. The body 11 of the shoe cover 10 is preferably made from anelastic stretchable commercially obtained cotton material commonlyreferred to as stockinette,. although it will be apparent that othersuitable stretch material may also be employed. The body 11, of course,opens at its opposite end 14 whereby the shoe cover may readily beslipped over the shoe 15 of the user and pulled toward the back of theshoe to assume the position indicated in FIG. 2.

The electrically conductive strip 12 is relatively narrow, beingapproximately one inch wide, and is preferably rnade fromsilver-impregnated nylon fabric, al' though it will be apparent that anysuitable conductive strip material, e.g., carbon-impregnated rubber, maybe employed. The conductive strip 12 has a free end por' tion orextension 12a which extends outwardly from the body portion 11 of theshoe cover to be tucked inside the sock 16 of the wearer in directcontact with the skin. The conductive nylon tape is thin and flexibleand accordingly relatively comfortable. Furthermore, since it may be atleast as flexible as the stockinette body portion it does not form anappreciable ridge along the underside of the latter or interfere withrolling, folding, or packaging of the shoe cover.

The manner in which the shoe cover 10 is used will be readily apparentfrom the above description and from the drawing. The user merely slipsthe shoe cover over the shoe and slides the same rearwardly until theshoe 15 tightly fits therewithin. The cotton stockinette materialemployed for the body 11 of the shoe cover is highly expansible andreadily adapts itself to any size shoe. After the cover 10 has beenpositioned snugly around the shoe, the conductive strip 12 is grasped bythe user and tucked inside the sock 16 in contact with the skin, wherebythe user is rendered conductive for safe movement withinthe operatingroom. It will of course be understood that shoe covers 10 are providedfor both feet of the user.

While the elastic stockinette is stretchable and thereby expansible toenable the same to be pulled on over and snugly to fit various sizes ofshoes, it is, of course, important that the conductive extension 12ashould not be pulled out of the wearers sock due to contraction of thecover in use and this is effectively prevented by securely attaching thetape or strip 12 to the length of stockinette fabric so that the latteris not in fact substantially longitudinally stretchable in the region ofsuch tape. The shoe cover is held in place principally by the elasticityof the stockinette tube but the extension 12a may also be of 83assistance in this respect when securely tucked into the sock of thewearer. Strip or tape 12 will ordinarily preferably be stitched alongone edge only to the stockinette.

With the termination of use of such surgical shoe covers, the usermerely removes the same from his feet whereby the same may be disposedof in any suitable manner. It will be noted that neither the slipping onnor the removing of the shoe covers requires the tying of any strings orthe like. To remove the shoe covers, all that is required is that thestrap 12 be grasped and merely moved under the heel and toward the frontof the shoe whereby the shoe cover is readily stripped from the shoe 15.

It will, accordingly, be seen that the surgical shoe cover of thepresent invention is highly simplified, and is characterized by the easewith which the same may be slipped over and subsequently removed fromthe shoe of the wearer. The cotton stockinette material-provided for thebody portion 11 of the shoe cover is highly expansible whereby a singlesize shoe cover readily adapts itself to any size shoe and extensiveinventories of varying sizes are not required. The simplifiedconstruction enables the shoe cover to be manufactured at an extremelylow cost so that they may be disposed of subsequent to use, therebyadditionally saving heretofore necessary laundering and sterilizingcosts.

Other modes of applying the principle of the invention may be employed,change being made as regards the details described, provided thefeatures stated in any of the following claims or the equivalent of suchbe employed.

I therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

1. A conductive surgical shoe cover for rendering electricallyconductive the wearer thereof comprising a textile material having asubstantially closed end and an opposite, open end, said material beingelastically stretchable to expand over and snugly fit the shoe of suchwearer, and a relatively narrow elongated strip of electricallyconductive material secured lengthwise at least from the toe to the heelareas of said cover when said cover is snugly fitted over the wearersshoe to contact the surface upon which the wearer is standing, saidstrip having a portion extending freely beyond the open end of saidcover adapted to be tucked within the sock of the wearer and thus indirect contact with the skin of such wearer.

2. The shoe cover of claim 1 wherein said textile material is cottonstock'mette, and said conductive strip is made from silver-impregnatednylon stitched to said stockinette material along one edge only of saidstrip.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,596,211 5/1952Comfort 369 X 2,650,327 8/1953 Legge 3172 X 2,701,323 2/1955 Lewis 317-2X 2,803,894 8/1957 Morgan 369 X 2,958,012 10/1960 Melman 317-2 X3,013,184 12/1961 Adams 317-2 X 3,146,377 8/1964 Witton 174-5 X MILTONO. HIRSHFIELD, Primary Examiner. SAMUEL BERNSTEIN, Examiner.

J. A. SILVERMAN, Assistant Examiner.

1. A CONDUCTIVE SURGICAL SHOE COVER FOR RENDERING ELECTRICALLYCONDUCTIVE THE WEARER THEREOF COMPRISING A TEXTILE MATERIAL HAVING ASUBSTANTIALLY CLOSED END AND AN OPPOSITE, OPEN END, SAID MATERIAL BEINGELASTICALLY STRETCHABLE TO EXPAND OVER AND SNUGLY FIT THE SHOE OF SUCHWEARER, AND A RELATIVELY NARROW ELONGATED STRIP OF ELECTRICALLYCONDUCTIVE MATERIAL SECURED LENGTHWISE AT LEAST FROM THE TOE TO THE HEELAREAS OF SAID COVER WHEN SAID COVER IS SNUGLY FITTED OVER THE WEARER''SSHOE TO CONTACT THE SURFACE UPON WHICH THE WEARER IS STANDING, SAIDSTRIP HAVING A PORTION EXTENDING FREELY BEYOND THE OPEN END OF SAIDCOVER ADAPTED TO BE TUCKED WITHIN THE SOCK OF THE WEARER AND THUS INDIRECT CONTACT WITH THE SKIN OF SUCH WEARER.